Keith Saunders

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Posts Tagged ‘Lost In Queens’

A few years ago I went into the studio with Bim Strasberg — one of my favorite bassists — to record a few tracks to be used largely for promotion. We did them in an afternoon, and I was very happy with how they turned out. It shows you how easy it is to connect with a musician that you are comfortable with, with whom you have played extensively.

Wives and Lovers is a song from the ’60s composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. It contains some of the most politically incorrect lyrics that you are likely to come across. This song would be ideal for source music in the AMC series, Mad Men.

This anecdote is brought to you by a drummer friend of mine, Taro Okamoto. He plays on my current CD, Lost In Queens, and is one of my favorite musicians.

A while back, a friend Taro’s needed him to facilitate the rental of a drum set. The friend was arriving from Japan to play a gig, as well as a recording session and wanted to pick up a drum set in New York rather than have to bring his own.

Taro called several music store only to find that the going rate for renting drums was $250.00. There was an additional charge of $100.00 for cartage — $50.00 per trip to have the drums delivered and picked up from the venue.

Now this is embarrassing to admit but most jazz gigs pay much less than $350.00 It would have been much cheaper for his friend to have hired a drummer and told him not to play, just to bring the drums!

Since the dawn of the automobile man has been imbued with a sense of exploration — to seek out new locales, to drive to them, and to return to his abode of residence. In New York City, directly to the east of Island of Manhattan there exists a borough whose roads are so poorly designed that the Romans themselves dared not traverse them.

I give you….Queens.

Let the driver who dares venture off Queens main artery, the Long Island Expressway, possess a will of iron, for it is he who embarks on a collision course with his destiny: eternal damnation.

Presenting a jazz CD inspired by the feeling of free-fall ensued during this doomsday day trip. Its compositions and arrangements, forged by pianist Keith Saunders, out of a thousand left turns onto one-way streets going THE WRONG WAY. Out of the awareness that he traversed roads that would have challenged Sacajawea, comes art personified. Swingin’.

I invite you to listen to the samples from Lost In Queens. It is a work of angst and a labor of love. But for the love of Robert Moses, stay the hell on the expressway.